Stefani Torrieri ’12
My Experience
This summer, the team at City Health Works! was working toward the launch of a Pilot Program in Harlem. I was responsible for two key partnership projects. The first was participating in the collaboration with Red Rabbit to create a viable Cooking Lab Program with CHW! through working on the logisitics of making a cost effective, viable program while enhancing the recipe content with new recipes and nutritional information and health benefits. Secondly, I contacted farms to find one that can deliver produce to CHW! at the school site. I also figured out a pricing structure and what it would take to negotiate discounts for CHW! members.
The City Health Works! mission is to empower citizens of low-income communities to embrace better, healthier lives. Their strategy in doing so is unique. City Health Works! will go beyond educating its members in a traditional sense by simply teaching them how to live better, healthier lives. Instead the organization will make the education process collaborative and participatory and the implementation practical. Therefore, Cooking Labs, where healthy cooking becomes an activity for families to participate in, and Farm Shares, in which members could have access to the healthy foods they were learning about, were essential ingredients to making this happen.
I was able to leverage much of what I learned in my Negotiations Class to accomplish my objectives at City Health Works! The type of planning I had learned to do in Negotiations was helpful in two ways. First, it helped me effectively prepare for a meeting. I was able to reach out to team members and collect key information. Second, it allowed me to attend the meetings I had with Red Rabbit and Corbin Hill Farms ( who will be CHW!’s Farm Partner) with a clear idea of what needed to be accomplished and a strategy on how to get there. This level of preparedness not only made the meetings successful but also more efficient- there was little back and forth and agreements were typically made within one or two meetings. This was important given the 7 week time frame of my internship.
Other key MBA skills that I was able to apply to my project work at City Health Works! were extracted from Marketing courses; specifically within the topics of Pricing and Consumer Behavior. My knowledge on how to price products for a certain population was necessary as I settled on a price with Corbin Hill Farms for City Health Works! members to have access to a weekly delivery of local farm produce and for the Learning Labs with Red Rabbit. Consumer Behavior theories were crucial as I created a unique format for our recipes meant to motivate members to cook at home.
My main challenge was adjusting to the nature of the Non Profit Industry. Previously, I’ve worked in the Fashion Industry, where plans are executed two seasons before they reach the consumer. This then was my first experience in an industry that doesn’t function that way. Operating with less time in advance, felt uncomfortable. However, quickly I focused on melding my previous career experience with the new standards in this industry. I believe this ended up working to my advantage.
Another challenge I faced was adapting to working with a different market, one that I was less familiar with. Within the Fashion Industry, I had worked in the Luxury Goods Market. Now, helping to deliver a program to families in Harlem, I had to focus more on data and less on intuition. However, to create a balance, I familiarized myself with the community through spending some time walking around the area, volunteering at an after school club and talking to those I met with to hear about the projects and experiences they had within the community.
It can’t be overemphasized enough that having a knowledgeable team with varied experience is key for an organization, especially during the start up phase. Since the first time I had learned about City Health Works! I had been incredibly impressed with the breadth and talent of the team. While working amongst the team, I continued to be impressed. The team worked in what felt like a perfect harmony, each person clear on what they had to accomplish and why. As well, I never found myself with a question that I couldn’t have answered internally. In general, I was constantly amazed by everyone’s passion for the organization and overall alignment with the mission. One special night we came together for a team pot luck dinner (healthy, of course!). The energy and passion was incredible and most of the night was spent talking “business” simply because we enjoyed it. I owe a lot of that credit to the Founder, Manmeet Kaur, who leads by example, and who built a team in which each individual passionately aligns with the City Health Works! mission. It was the best team experience I’ve had in my career.
I appreciated this opportunity to apply my learned MBA skills at City Health Works! But moreover, I am grateful for having the chance to work towards a mission I personally deeply align with. The energy I felt working toward it, and that of the team, was invigorating.
